1-Day Majestic Sigiriya & Dambulla Temples Tour

The Lion Rock in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, is an air palace that took 18 years to build on the orange-red giant rock. It is known as the eighth wonder of the world and is the apex of Sri Lanka's "cultural golden triangle". At first, the giant rock was built to look like a huge lion, but now the lion's head has been weathered and fallen, leaving only the lion's body. The scope of Lion Rock is relatively large, including moats, huge rocks, and broken walls at the top of the rocks.

Pidurangala is a huge rock to the north of Lion Rock. Its height and structure are similar to Lion Rock. It is a very good place to overlook Lion Rock.

The Sigiriya Museum is located on the way to "Lion Rock", and the collections here are related to the history of "Lion Rock". Completed in 2009 with the support of JICA Group, the museum also has a wealth of display content. Although the location is slightly off, if you want to know more about the history of Lion Rock, the museum is worth a visit. The museum showcases dexterous little monkeys in the museum, as well as a video of "Lion Rock" and a replica of the frescoes of "Women of Sigiriya", a VTR showing the ruins of ancient rock-top palaces, a display of Lion Rock and the Gulf States , trade routes connecting China, India and the Roman Empire, etc., as well as a display of Sigiriya and its surrounding cultural relics, such as gems, ancient Chinese coins, etc.

Dambulla Grottoes is a famous Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. It was built in the 1st century BC and is located on the slope of a stone mountain. The entire grotto includes five sanctuaries, which contain 2,100 square meters of sap and other raw materials. The murals and 157 statues are of high religious artistic value. When the Golden Temple comes to the foot of the Dambulla Grottoes, you will see a modern-style building in the shape of a lion's mouth. On the roof is a huge golden Buddha statue, so the locals also call it The Golden Temple. It's a beautiful and tacky building, built with Japanese donations in 2000, with a Buddha statue in a dhammachakkamudra (runner) pose and a giant neon sign on the side. Cave No. 1 (Devaraja Viharaya) contains a 15-meter-long reclining Buddha carved from a single piece of rock. At the feet of the reclining Buddha are Venerable Ananda and other sitting Buddha statues, while a small alcove above the reclining Buddha's head holds a statue of Vishnu. The stone walls and the top of the cave are covered with exquisite frescoes. Cave No. 2 (Maharaja Viharaya) There is a tall arch at the entrance of Cave No. 2, decorated with dragon carving patterns on both sides, 52 meters long from east to west, and 23 meters deep from the gate to the wall. You can see 16 standing and 40 seated statues, 2 Indian gods and 2 kings, and there is a stupa in the middle of the grotto. The cave is named after the two king statues in the room. After entering the door, there is a painted wooden statue on the left hand side, that is King Valagamba, and there is another statue a little further inside, which is King Nisan Kamara. The statue of the cave was also once covered with golden leaves and is located under a makaratorana (arch with dragons). The right hand of the Buddha statue is raised in a fearless mudra (meaning protection). The Indian gods also used this gesture to express "protection". Some of the frescoes in the caves are more than 2,000 years old and are still lifelike. Cave No. 3 (MahaAlutViharaya) The third cave is the "Daxin Temple", and its murals and paintings on the top of the cave are typical Sri Lankan paintings in the 18th century. In addition to 50 stone carvings of Buddha statues, there are also statues of Kirti Sri Rajainha, the king who revitalized Buddhism in the 18th century. The entire cave temple is full of statues of Buddhas, monks and kings in different postures, and one of the reclining Buddhas is very beautiful. The fourth and fifth caves of the fourth cave (Pachima Viharaya) are not as large and historical as the first three caves, and the content of the murals in the caves are Buddhist stories and legends. The fourth cave is the West Temple, which is 16 meters long, 6 meters wide and 8 meters high. It is a relatively small cave. The Buddha statue in the middle of the room is located under an arch with a dragon ornament, and the Buddha statue is made of dhyanamudra. The small stupa in the middle was smashed by thieves who thought it contained the jewels of Queen Somawathie. Hole 5 (DevanaAlutViharaya) Hole 5 is surrounded by brick walls, 6.8 meters long and 12.25 meters wide. It is a relatively new hole. There is a reclining Buddha in the cave, and there are also Hindu gods, such as the Hindu god of war Murugan and Vishnu.

There are as many as nine national parks in Sri Lanka, of which Minneriya National Park is a smaller one, but the park is located between Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa, with forests, lakes and wild animals covering an area of about 90 square kilometers . The landscape in the park is a huge water storage lake built by King Mahasin in the third century, the area is one of the largest in the country. The impoundment lake area is exposed to grass during the dry season, including elephant herds from areas such as Matara, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee. There will be as many as 2-300 heads. So Minneriya National Park is one of the important elephant habitats in the country.